Scattering unloader



May 25, 1937. H. H. DODGE SCATTERING UNLOADER Filed bee. 9, 19:55 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 25, 1937. H. H. DODGE SCATTERING UNLOADER May 25, 1937.DODGE SCATTERING UNLOADER Filed Dec. 9, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 1937. H.H. DODGE SCATTERING UNLOADER Filed Dec. 9, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 4Patented May 25, 1%37 ATENT FFIQE SCATTERING UNLOADER App'licaticnDecember 9, 1935, Serial No. 53,623

2 Claims.

. This invention relates to scattering unloaders and has for its objectto provide a device simple in construction and more efiicient in usethan those heretofore proposed.

,With these and other objects in view the invention resides in the noveldetails of construction and combinations of parts as will be disclosedmore fully hereinafter and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecification and in which like numerals designate like parts in all theviews,

Fig. l is a horizontal sectional view of the device taken substantiallyon the line AA of Fig. 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

.Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional View of the device takensubstantially on the line 2-4 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction ofthe arrows;

Fig. 3 is another vertical sectional view but taken as on the line 3-3of Fig. l and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken vertically of the device ason the line i l of Fig. 1

w and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. .5 is a detail transverse sectional view slightly contracted, takenas on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figs. 6 and 7 are respectively side and front elevations of a coverplate for the bushing of the eccentric shaft;

Figs. 8 and 9 are respectively side and front e'levational views of thebushing for the eccentric shaft and to which the cover plate shown inthepreceding figures is to be attached;

-. a mechanism having a reservoir or main hopper for the storage of anappreciable quantity of the material to be scattered, a chambercommunicating with the hopper and provided with a member for meteringthe material fed from the hopper, a horizontally disposed scatterer inthe nature of a revolving disk for receiving the measured quantities ofthe material and throwing the same laterally from the machine, a loadingdevice by means of which the hopper may be replenished with additionalmaterial, and clutch and drive mechanism for controlling and operatingat will the parts just mentioned, all of said mechanisms receiving powerfrom the traction wheels by means of which the entire device travelsover the ground. In addition this device is made in the nature of atwo-wheeled trailer to be attached to and drawn by a towing vehicle suchas a truck which latter may contain a supplemental load of the materialto be scattered so that said supplemental material may be fed to thehopper as and when necessary, there also being provided an auxiliarythird wheel for supporting the twowheeled trailer when it is not beingtowed, said auxiliary wheel mounted so that'it may be turned out ofoperative supporting position when the device is being towed.

More specifically the device has two traction wheels 2 and 3 mountedupon the axle 4 extending transversely of, and mounted in bearings suchas 5 and 6 secured to, side channel frame members i and 8, the ends ofsaid channels connected by a cross channel frame member 9 at the rear ofthe device. The forward ends of the side channels extend obliquelyinward as indicated at IU then forwardly as at H, again ob- I liquelyinward as at 12 and again forwardly as at l3 to the extreme forward endof the device, the portions l3 being in sidevvise contact and securedtogether in any suitable manner to form a rigid support for the draw-barM provided with an eye 15 by means of which the draw-bar is attached tothe towing vehicle. The draw-bar is angularly bent as shown and thevertical portion l6 thereof provided with a plurality of spaced holes I!through which bolts 18 and I9 may secure the bar to the frame of thedevice in one of a plurality of positions to cause the drawbar toadjustably register with the attaching member of the towing vehicle, allas will be readily understood.

Adjacent the draw-bar and supported by the frame portions 13, is adepending bifurcated bracket 20 having a bolt 2! passing therethroughserving as a pivot about which the yoke 22 may rotate, said yokeconstituting a bearing for the third or auxiliary wheel 23 forsupporting the device when it is not being towed. The bracket 20 isprovided with a bore below the pivot bolt 2|, and theyoke 22 is providedwith a bore registrable therewith, through which bores may be passedtial vertical dependency when the auxiliary wheel is used for supportingthe device, and said bracket Zii is provided with another boresubstantially 90 spaced from said first mentioned bore so that when thedevice is being towed the wheel 23 may be bodily moved about the pivotbolt 2| and held by a reinsertion of the locking pin 24 to hold saidwheel in laterally raised position out of the way of contact with anysurface obstruction on the road or field over which the device is beingtowed.

In the irregular shaped confines, of the obliquely disposed forwardportions of the side frame members of the device, is disposed the lowerportion of a substantially vertical bucket elevator, as well as acharging bin 39 for receiving the supplemental material indicated at 3ifed from the towing vehicle 32, said bin having secured thereto asubstantially vertically disposed channel member 33 constituting a guidefor the ascending flight of elevator buckets 34, there being providedthe lower shaft 35 and the upper shaft 36 for carrying the sprocketssuch as 31 over which the elevator chain 38 travels, the buckets of thedescending elevator flight being indicated at 39. The lower elevatorshaft 35 is mounted in fixed bearings carried by the casing of the binand one end of said shaft is extended for receiving thereon the drivesprocket 40. The upper shaft 36 is mounted in bearings made verticallyadjustable in any suitable manner as for example by the screw 4!indicated in Fig. 2. The entire elevator assembly is suitably supportedto the device, the upper portion thereof being shown in Fig. 2 as boltedto the front side of the main hopper or reservoir 53 by angle bars suchas 42, there being one such bar on each lateral side of the elevator,and a deflector plate 44 is provided at the top edge of said reservoirfor directing into said reservoir the material dumped by the elevatorbuckets.

The main hopper or reservoir 43 comprises a substantially square orrectangular upper portion the side walls of which are each bent inwardlyand downwardly as shown at 45 to prow'd e an inclined bottom having achute effect and by means of which the material in the reservoir willautomatically gravitate to the metering chamber 46 bolted to the bottomedges of said reservoir. The reservoir is supported by verticallyextending bars 41, 48, 49 and 50 substantially at each corner of thereservoir, the lower ends of said bars being angularly bent and boltedto the upper flange of the side channel frame members 1 and 8. A heavycross channel i spaces and. strengthens the side channel frame membersand is disposed near the rear of the device substantially in verticalalignment with the rear wall of the reservoir, and two transverse lesserchannels 52 and 53 are disposed forward of the device for additionalstrength to the frame and for supporting drive mechanisms later to bedescribed, see Fig. 3. A platform 54 for the operator of the device isprovided at the rear, and guard railing indicated at 55 extends aroundtwo sides of the platform, said railing attached to the vertical bar 48as at 56.

The metering chamber 46 has therein a relatively close fitting drum 60the periphery of which is provided with a plurality of materialreceiving pockets 6!, said chamber being freely open at its top where itjoins the reservoir, but provided with a tapered and restricted bottomthrough which the material is discharged onto the scatterer disk 62. Theforward vertical wall of this chamber has disposed on the inner surfacethereof a horizontal transversely extending bar 63 serving to crush anylarge particles of material carried around by the metering drum andwhich normally might cause damage to the relatively thin sheet metalwall of said chamber; this bar additionally serving as a retarder orscraper for causing each pocket of the drum to deliver its measuredquantity of material, due to the fact that the edge of said bar is butslightly spaced (for clearance only) from the periphery of the drum, seeFig. 2. This metering drum is cast integrally with its shaft, or it maybe keyed to a shaft, the construction shown in Fig. 2 comprising a shaft64 provided with four equally spaced keyways, which shaft is preheatedand placed in the mold for forming the metering drum so that the moltenmetal will enter said keyways, causing the cast drum to be substantiallyintegral with the shaft. The shaft 64 extends transversely of the devicewith its ends mounted in bearings such as 65 resting upon and bolted tothe tops of the side channels 1 and 8. This shaft has keyed thereto alarge sprocket 56, but has loosely mounted thereon (for idling) a pairof sprockets 61 and 68 the former larger than the latter, this pair ofidle sprockets being joined together sidewise for simultaneous rotationand held in place on the shaft by suitable spacing collars not shown,the purpose of this pair of sprockets appearing hereinafter.

A countershaft es extends transversely of the device just forward of thecross channel 5|, the ends of said shaft mounted in bearings such asdisposed between the flanges of, and bolted to the web of, the sidechannel frame members 1 and 8. This shaft has keyed thereto a relativelysmall sprocket 1| having thereon the chain 12 driven by the relativelysmall sprocket 13 keyed to the axle 4 wherefore it will be seen that thecountershaft is directly connected to the axle and is rotated therebywhen the device is moving forwardly. A pawl and ratchet mechanism notshown in the drawings is mounted in the hub of each of the tractionwheels 2 and 3 and so arranged that forward movement of the device overthe road will cause the wheels and axle to rotate, but there will be norotation of said axle when either or both of the traction wheels rotatereversely or in a backward direction. The countershaft also has keyedthereto on the opposite side of the machine a similar small sprocket 14having thereon the chain which latter engages the larger sprocket 61attached to and idling with the smaller sprocket B8 on the metering drumshaft 64.

Intermediate the two sprockets 1| and 14 is a pair of clutches generallyindicated by the numerals 16 and 11 of any suitable construction, onemember of each clutch being keyed to the countershaft but having anothermember normally idling or loosely mounted upon said shaft. The clutch 16has associated therewith a relatively small sprocket 18 carrying thechain 19 passing over the large sprocket 66 keyed to the drum shaft 64,and the other clutch 11 has associated therewith a relatively largesprocket 80 carrying the chain 8| passing over a smaller sprocket 82keyed to a jack shaft 83 for driving the scatterer, and to be describedlater. Therefore it will be understood that when the device is movingforwardly over the road the countershaft 69 will be caused to rotate,and when the clutch 16 is engaged as indicated in Fig. 1 the sprocket 18will be caused to rotate and drive the metering drum shaft 6%. In thisfigure the other clutch 1? is indicated as disengaged but when it isengaged the sprocket 89 associated therewith will be caused to rotateand drive the jack shaft 83, in turn driving the scatterer. Also it.will be understood that when the countershaft is revolving the pair ofidler sprockets 6'! and 68 will likewise revolve .but because they areidly mounted upon the metering drum shaft 54 they will have no effectupon said shaft.- Suitable hand levers 89 and 85 are provided (see Fig.4) for moving the clutches I5 and 11 respectively into and out ofengagement, there being provided.

' any suitable means for holding said levers in the limits of theirintended movement, such as the notched plate 36 supported transverselyof the machine by the vertical bars 98 and 49, each operating levercarrying at its lower extremity a yoke such as 81 pivotally engaging amovable member of the associated clutch, said yoke pivoted as at 88 to abracket plate 89 carried by the transverse channel member 5I.

' Referring more particularly to Figs. 4 and 5, the side channels I and8 carry the smaller transverse channels 52 and 53 upon which latter ismounted a supporting plate 95 carrying a bearing hub 96 for thevertically disposed shaft 91 at the bottom of which is attached thescatterer 62 which latter is more specifically shown in Figs. 2 and 10and comprises a disk with a central hub 98. Secured to the upper surfaceof said disk and around the edge thereof is a plurality of equalsubstantially Z-shaped bars generally indicated by the numeral 99,spaced about one inch apart, each bar extending radially inward fromsaid edge a distance approximately one-tenth of the diameter of thedisk. For the sake of clearness in the drawings only two or three ofthese bars are shown, each bar comprising a bottom flange in surfacecontact with the disk, a top flange parallel to the bottom flange andspaced from two to three inches therefrom, and a vertically disposed webconnecting said flanges, wherefore it will be seen that the materialdischarged onto the disk from the metering chamber will fill the centralarea of the disk and, upon rotation of the disk, will be moved bycentrifugal action to the edge of the disk, the material passing throughthe spaces between the surface of the disk and the upper flanges of saidbars, the webs of said bars pushing the material in the direction ofrotation of the disk.

The top flanges of these bars are provided to hold the material down onthe disk to a very low level so that the material when thrown from thedisk will not rise more than six or eight inches from the road or othersurface upon which the material is being scattered; the plane of thedisk surface is approximately eight to twelve inches above the roadsurface. Therefore when this device is used for scattering cinders, overa, snowy or icy road for example, the device will be towed on one sideof the road in the direction of trafiic, and the cinders can becontinuously scattered without harm to traffic moving in the oppositedirection on the opposite side of the road or to traffic moving in thesame direction but passing the device. These bars also permit the angleof material throw to be regulated so as not to depend entirely on theshield associated with said disk and to be described later. The upperend of the scatterer shaft 91 has mounted thereon a bevel pinion I99meshed with the vertical bevel gear IUI carried by the jack shaftmounted in the bearing castings I02 and I03, the casting I02 carried bythe supporting plate 95, and the casting I93 carried by another plateI04 likewise supported by the cross channel members such as 53.

Also mounted on the supporting plate 95 are two bearing castings I95 andI95 each casting for receiving the ends of two parallelly disposedshafts I97 and I98 extending transversely of the machine, the shaft I91being relatively fixed but the shaft I58 adapted for bodily movementinto positions parallel with the shaft I97, the shaft I98 being termedan eccentrically mounted shaft.

The eccentricity of this shaft is due to the fact that each end thereofis mounted in a bore I09 of a cylindrical bushing H9, which bore iscocentric with respect to the axis of the bushing see Figs. 6 to 9. Eachbushing I I is provided with a circular head III fitting against theinnermost side of the casting such as I05, and has its cylindrical mainbody portion fitting the bore of said casting and extending all the waythrough, with a cover plate such as I I2 bolted to the outer end byscrews fitting within the threaded taps I 53. This cover plate is ofapproximately the same diameter as the head III of the bushing andengages the opposite or outermost face of the casting I05. This coverplate on its outside surface is provided centrally with a squared bossH4 adapted to fit a squared hole in the end of a U-shaped bracket II5.

In other words, as seen in Fig. 1, this bracket H5 extends upwardly andover the pair of castings I95 and I96, the ends of said bracket engagingsimilar squared bosses such as H4 on identical cover plates for theeccentric shaft, so that, when the bracket is oscillated, the two coverplates will turn coincidently causing simultaneous rotation of thebushings such as I I0, and this rotation will cause the bodily movementof the eccentric shaft I98 into positions parallel with the relativelyfixed shaft I07.

On the shaft Ii)? is keyed a planetary gear i I6 and on the shaft I98 iskeyed a similar gear II? for enmeshment therewith, wherefore it will beseen that, when the eccentric shaft I98 is in one limit of its throw,the gears will be in mesh but when said shaft is in the other limit ofits throw the gear I I1 will be moved out of mesh with its companiongear. The means for moving the bracket I15, for accomplishing thisengagement and disengagement of said gears, comprises a rod II8 pivotedat one end to one side of said bracket as at I I9, the opposite end ofsaid rod being pivoted as at I29 to an operating lever I2I whoselowermost end is pivoted to a bracket I22 secured to the cross channelmember 5|, said lever being provided with a suitable detent for engaginga notched plate such as I23 supported by the vertical reservoirsupporting bar 48. Approximately a 90 throw of the U bracket I I5accomplishes the engagement and disengagement of said gears.

Also keyed to the eccentric shaft I08 is the relatively small sprocketI24 carrying the chain I25 passing over the idler sprocket 68 on themetering drum shaft 54. Keyed to the fixed shaft 191 is anotherrelatively small sprocket I26 carrying the chain I2! passing over thesprocket 40 on the bottom elevator shaft 35. Therefore it will be seenthat the enlivened countershaft 69, through the chains I5 and I25, willdrive the sprocket I24 on the eccentric shaft I08, and

when this last mentioned shaft is in its position causing engagement ofthe gears H6 and Ill power will be transmitted through the chain I21 todrive the elevator, but when the eccentric shaft is thrown to cause adisengagement of said gears, the eccentric shaft I08 will stillberotated but without causing coincident rotation of the fixed shaft l!and the elevator shaft 35.

The scatterer disk 62 has disposed about the rear portion of itsperiphery a depending shield I30 the upper edge of which is flanged forbolting to a cover plate I 3| extending horizontally across the machineand dependently hung from the lower flange of the side frame members Iand 8 as by the skirt portion I32, see Fig. 11. The shield I30 on thethrowing side of the disk scatterer extends substantially tangentiallytherefrom to form a relatively wide angle with the central longitudinalplane of the machine, the outermost end I33 of the shield just clearingthe traction wheel 2 so that the material thrown by the rotating diskwill be guided by this portion of the shield to clear said wheel whileat the same time being directed thereby to such an extent as to causethe material to be thrown appreciably to the side of the machine. Theratio of gearing for the drive. of the scatterer disk is such that, at aspeed of approximately 12 miles per hour of the machine over the road,the material will be evenly scattered forwardly and to one side on theroad surface, covering a surface area approximately twenty feet wide.

The shield I30 likewise extends to the other side of the machinesubstantially tangentially to the disk as indicated but the extreme endI34 of the shield on this side is considerably nearer the longitudinalcentral plane of the machine, whereby this portion of the shield makes alesser angle with said plane than was the case with the shield on theother side of the machine, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, there not being awide lateral scattering of the material on this sub-. stantiallynon-throwing side of the disk.

It is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details ofconstruction as well as the ar rangements of parts without departingfrom the spirit of this invention and therefore it is not desired to belimited to the. exact foregoing disclosure except as may be required bythe claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a wheeled traction device of the character described thecombination of a reservoir for the material to be scattered; conveyormeans to replenish said reservoir; a rotary material scatterer; feedingmeans to deliver the material from said reservoir to said scatterer; andpower transmission means operable from a wheel of said device fordriving at will the material feeding means, the scatterer and thereservoir replenishing means, said transmission including means forengaging and disengaging one of the operating drives by a bodilymovement of an intermediate transmission shaft.

2. In a scattering unloader having a reservoir for the material to bescattered, a rotary scatterer, and mechanism for feeding measuredquantities of material from the reservoir to the scatterer, and whereinthe unloader is adapted to be hauled by a towing vehicle containing areplenishing supply of material for the reservoir, the combination of anaxle on the unloader with traction wheels operatively carried thereby; acountershaft driven by said axle; conveyor means to replenish thereservoir with material from the towing vehicle; and power transmissionmeans operable from said countershaft for driving at will the materialquantity measuring mechanism, the scatterer, and the reservoirreplenishing means, said transmission including means for engaging anddisengaging one of the operating drives by a bodily movement of anintermediate transmission shaft.

HARRY H. DODGE.

